INTRODUCTION

Since independence, the percentage of people in India who can

afford a good lifestyle has been increasing steadily, while the
percentage of people under the poverty line has decreased
considerably. This change can undeniably be linked as a direct or
indirect consequence of the policies of the government for
upliftment of the poor people. Yet many people still have not been
able to reap the benefits of these policies and provisions and the
associated economic growth. This has resulted in the widening of the
gap between the rich and the poor. As such, the poorer sections of the
society feels ostracized and face various social injustices.
Compounding their problems, it is seen that they don‟t have
anyone to represent them before the court to face judicial
procedings and thus, are deprived of justice. When the literate,
affluent and urban sections of our population tend to escape and
avoid taking the help of the law due to complexity of judicial
proceedings, how can one expect the rural and backward masses to
see the system of courts and judges as a tool of providing
justice? Although all problems cannot be solved to the core,
nonetheless our Constitution as well as legislations provides a
solution for the poorer and needy sections of the society, who do not
have the means to avail legal services, by providing them with free legal
assistance. This free legal assistance is called legal aid.

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MEANING OF LEGAL AID

According to Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary Legal Aid

means a system of providing free advice about the law and practical
help with legal matters for people who are too poor to pay for it.

In the traditional sense legal aid is understood as financial assistance to

a person who wishes to assert or defend his rights in a court of law and
who would not be able to do so without such assistance in view of his
financial means.

The general meaning of the term “Legal Aid”, therefore is a legal

support, social security, and social arrangement, for extending and
providing special assistance or help to the poorer and weaker members
to enable them to enforce their legal rights through legal process.
Therefore, the provision of legal aid is essential for the safe walk of
democracies on the track of Rule of Law and the Equal Protection of
Laws.

Legal aid conveys the assistance provided by the society to its weaker
members in their effort to protect their rights and liberties,
bestowed upon them by the laws. There is no justice unless there
is a sure uniformity about it. In a country like India, where the
poor are neither aware of their rights nor have money to engage
lawyers to defend them in the court, justice ends up becoming a rich
man’s indulgence. The object behind free legal services for the poor is
to ensure equal and uniform justice.

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Free legal aid implies giving free legal services to the poor and
needy who cannot afford the services of a lawyer for the conduct of a
case or a legal proceeding in any court, tribunal or before an authority.

In order to ensure equality of justice, it is not only sufficient that law

treats rich and poor equally, but it is also necessary that the poor must
be in a position to get their rights enforced and should put up proper
and adequate defence when they are sued for any liability. If this is
not done, the law despite of its equality will become
discriminatory against the poor.

This brings into existence the question of legal aid to poor. The concept
of legal aid lays down simply that no man shall be denied from his right
at the cost of his poor economical condition; otherwise the poor litigant
will often be deprived of justice due to non-availability of legal service.

Free legal aid is a mode of providing assistance to people otherwise

unable to afford legal representation and access to the legal system.
Legal aid is regarded as a ton in providing entry to justice by ensuring
equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial.

Conventionally, Legal Aid has been taken to mean the systematized

effort of the bar council, the community and the government to
provide the services of legal representative free, or for a token
charge, to persons who cannot afford the usual excessive cost.

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CRITERIA FOR PROVIDING LEGAL AID
Every person who has to file or defend a case shall be entitled to legal
services under this Act if that person is-

 a member of a SC or ST;
 a victim of trafficking in human ;
 a woman or child;
 disabled person, including mental disability;
 a victim of mass disaster;
 an industrial workman;
 a person in custody;
 person whose annual income is less than rupees nine
thousand or such other higher amount as may be prescribed by
the State Government if the case is before a court other than the
Supreme Court and less than rupees twelve thousand or such
other higher amount as may be prescribed by the Central
Government if the case is before the Supreme Court;
 unable to engage a lawyer and secure legal service on account of
reasons such as poverty, indigence situation etc.,

In addition to the above, legal service may be granted for -

 a case of great public importance,

 special cases considered deserving of legal services.

Women and children, members of ST and SC, industrial workmen,

disabled persons and persons whose annual income does not exceed
Rs. 1 Lakh (in the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee the limit is
Rs. 1, 25,000/-; the income limit for legal aid is under revision) should
be entitled with the provision of free legal aid as they represent the
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poorer and weaker sections of the society and cannot afford the
services of lawyers and also to meet other required costs for the
conduct of a case. On the other hand, victims of mass disaster,
violence, flood, drought, earthquake, industrial disaster, persons in
custody and victims of human trafficking and people going through
dire conditions and as such, they need free legal assistance for getting
justice.

WHEN CAN LEGAL SERVICES BE REJECTED

A legal service be rejected if the applicant-

i. Has adequate means to access justice;

ii. Does not fulfil the eligibility criteria;
iii. Has no merit in his application requiring legal action.

VARIOUS CASES IN WHICH FREE LEGAL AID IS NOT

PROVIDED
In the following cases legal aid is not available-

 Defamation,
 Malicious prosecution,
 Contempt of court,
 Perjury,
 Lying under oath,
 Proceedings relating to election;
 Cases where the fine imposed is not more than Rs.50/-;

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  Economic offences,
 Offences against social laws;
 Cases where the person seeking legal aid is not directly concerned
with,
 The proceedings and whose interests will not be affected.

WHEN CAN THE LEGAL SERVICES BE WITHDRAWN

The legal services committee can withdraw the services if,

 The aid is obtained through misrepresentat ion or fraud,

 Any material change occurs in the circumstances of the aided
person,
 There is misconduct, misbehaviour or negligence on the part of
the aided person,
 The aided person does not co-operate with the allotted
advocate,
 The aided persons appoints another legal practitioner,
 The aided person dies, except in civil cases,
 The proceedings amount to misusing the process of law or of legal
service.

WHOM TO APPROACH FOR FREE LEGAL AID

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 The person who needs free legal aid can approach the Legal
Services Authority at any level- national, state, district and taluk.
The request can be made to-
 The Senior Civil Judge nominated as the Chairperson of the
Mandal/ Taluk Legal Services Authority;
 The Secretary, District Legal Services Authority at the District
level;
 The Secretary, High Court Legal Services Committee at the State
level;
 The Secretary, Supreme Court Legal Services Committee at
the higher level;
 The Member Secretary of the State Legal Services Authority;
 The magistrate before whom she/he is produced; or
 The custodial authorities, if under detention.

HOW TO APPROACH FOR LEGAL AID

 A written application can be made to the concerned authority.

 Where the person cannot read or write, the Legal Services
Authority will record his/her statement along with thumb
impression. Such a statement is treated as an application.
 The person who claims legal aid has to file an affidavit of his
income.

DUTIES OF AIDED PERSON

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The aided person must –

i. Comply with directions given by the Secretary of the Legal

Services Authority;
ii. Attend the office of the committee or Court as well as of
the advocate assigned, as when required;
iii. Furnish full and true information to the advocate rendering legal
service; and
iv. Not pay any fees or expenses to the advocate rendering
legal service.

MODE OF LEGAL SERVICES

Free legal services include the following-

i. i. Payment of court fees, process fees and all other charges

payable or incurred in connection with any legal proceedings,
ii. Providing Advocate in legal proceedings,
iii. Obtaining and supply of certified copies of orders and other
documents in legal proceedings, iv. Preparation of appeal, paper
book including printing and translation of documents in legal
proceedings.

SCOPE OF LEGAL AID

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The scope of free generous legal aid is broader than the legal assistance
to poor or indigenous people. Legal aid conveys the meaning of
equality and assistance provided by the society and Government to
its financially and other weaker and deprived sections of the society
to carry out the judicial process that is Administration of Justice in the
following respect –

 To ensure justice at cheap cost or free of cost

 To provide justice at door step.
 To provide legal awareness.
 To provide legal education.
 To provide para- legal aid.
 To provide social and economic justice.
 To provide civil justice system
 To provide criminal justice.
 To protect legal rights.
 To protect constitutional rights.
 To protect human rights.
 To provide distributive justice.

AIMS OF LEGAL AID

Now the states are welfare states. Legal aid has a close relationship
with the welfare state. The provision of legal aid by the state is
an attempt towards the achievement of the goal of welfare. Legal
aid is a welfare provision by the state to people who could not
otherwise afford access to the legal system.

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Legal aid also helps to ensure that welfare provisions are enforced by
the state providing it to people entitled to welfare provisions, such as
social housing, with access to legal advice and the courts.

Historically, legal aid has played a strong role in ensuring respect for
economic, social and cultural rights which are engaged in relation to
social security, housing, social care, health and education service,
which may be provided publicly or privately, by means of
enforcement of law and anti-discrimination legislation.

Justice P.N. Bhagwati rightly states the poor and the illiterate should be
able to approach the courts and their ignorance and poverty should
not be an impediment in the way of their obtaining justice from the
courts.

The first and foremost aim of legal aid is to provide free legal
services to the poor and needy section of the society. Apart from
this, it also encompasses the principles of equality, justice, rule of
law and provision of assistance to people otherwise unable to afford
legal representation and access to the court of law. As such, it should
also strive to provide legal awareness, para-legal service, educate
people regarding existing provisions of law and promote legal
literacy and create legal awareness among the weaker sections of the
community.

Legal aid has a close relationship with the welfare state and the
provision of legal aid by a state is prejudiced by attitudes towards
welfare. Legal aid is a welfare provision by the state to people
who could otherwise not afford access to the legal system.

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Legal aid also helps to ensure that welfare provisions are enforced by
providing it to people entitled to welfare provisions, such as social
housing, with access to legal advice and the courts. Jurists Mauro
Cappelletti argued that legal aid is essential in providing individuals
with access to justice, by allowing the individual legal enforcement
of economic, social and cultural rights.

Legal aid, in its common sense, conveys the assistance provided by the
society to its weaker members in their effort to protect their rights and
liberties. The provisions of legal aid to the poor are based on
charitable conditions and the main aims of these provisions are that
people who are socially and economically backward get social
justice. The following can be described as aims of legal aid in broad
prospective –

First and foremost aim of legal aid is to provide free legal service to the
poor and needy section of the society.

 To provide equality.
 To provide justice.
 To implement rule of law.
 To provide legal awareness.
 To arrange for legal aid camp.
 To make available speedy justice.
 To provide para- legal service.
 To establish social justice.
 To educate people regarding existing provisions of law.
 The provisions of legal aid to the poor are based on humanitarian
conditions.

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  Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people otherwise unable
to afford legal representation and access to the court of law.
 To promote legal literacy and create legal awareness among the
weaker sections of the community.
 To organize legal aid camp.

OBJECT OF LEGAL AID

Legal aid means the free legal support to the poor and weaker
sections of the society at the state cost with the object to enable
them to exercise the rights given to them by law. The object of
legal aid is to ensure that the opportunities for securing justice
are not denied to any person by reason of poverty and it should
not be an impediment in the way of their obtaining justice.

The main object of legal aid is to ensure equal justice. Legal aid is
necessary in developing countries so long as poor exist in the
society. Due to lack of knowledge, people are not aware of their
rights and thereby are troubled by the powerful and lose the benefits
provided by the state.

Justice A.B. Srivastava mentions that the object of legal aid is to

provide free and competent legal services to weaker sections of society
to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to
any person by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to
organize Lok Adalat to secure justice on the basis of equal
opportunity

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RIGHT TO FREE LEGAL AID
Concept of legal aid can be witnessed in the 40th paragraph of the
Magna Carta, which says “To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny
or delay right or justice.” Free legal aid is an integral part of our
Constitution which provides an opportunity to the needy citizen to
access to the court. Legal aid is considered as a right of every individual
who fails to afford a lawyer due to his poor financial condition.

The Constitution of India carries out various Articles regarding free

legal aid which are discussed below in brief-

 Article 14.
 Article 21.
 Article 22(1).
 Article 38 and
 Article 39(A)
Article 14 of the Constitutionof India guarantees equality before
law and equal protection of laws. Equality before law
necessarily involves the concept that all the parties to a legal
proceeding must have an equal opportunity of access to the
court. Justice and access to the court would remain a myth for
the people who are unable to pay the court fees and lawyers‟
fees etc. because of their poor economic conditions and thus they
loose the opportunity of access to the court.

Moreover, the cumbersome amount of legislations and complex

procedures involved have made the situation even more difficult for
the common people to know what his rights are unless he has
ample means of legal representation in a court. The inequality

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therefore, instead of being lessened, has enormously increased in a
welfare State. Therefore, under Article 14, provision of legal services to
the poor litigant is not just a provision of procedural law but a question
of a fundamental character.

Article 21 of the Constitution of India provides the right to life

and personal liberty. This right cannot be taken away except by
procedure established by law. Procedure should be just, fair and
reasonable. Right to hearing is an essential part of natural justice.
As a corollary to that, the right to counsel or to legal aid is
equally essential to fair trial, Further counsel for the accused must be
given time and facility for preparing his defense. Breach of these
safeguards of fair trial would invalidate the trial and conviction even if
the accused did not ask for legal aid.

Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India provides that a person arrested

should not be detained in custody without being informed of the
grounds for such arrest and should not be denied the right to consult
and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.

Article 38 of the Constitution of India urges that the State should

endeavour to promote the welfare of the people by securing and
protecting as effectively as it may be a social order in which justice:
social, economic and political shall inform all the institutions of
national life.

Article 39-A of the Constitution of India provides for equal justice and
free legal aid. It is, therefore clear that the State has been ordained to
secure a legal system which promotes justice on the basis of equal
opportunity.

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KINDS OF LEGAL AID
There are basically two types of legal aid –

a) Pre-litigation legal aid,

b) Legal aid during the proceeding of litigation.

a) PRE-LITIGATION LEGAL AID

It has been rightly said that prevention is better than cure.

Increase in the number of cases is a matter of harsh concern.
Litigation should be the last resort. Matters should be resolved
without restoring to the complicacies of the legal framework of the
country.

Such pre- litigation legal aid includes –

• Legal education

• Legal advice

• Legal awareness

• Seminar on legal aid

• Pre- litigation settlement.

• Arrange legal aid camp

In order to remove complexity, more and more emphasis should be laid

on pre- litigation services. Litigation should be used as the last

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resort. If pre-litigation services are properly rendered then both
time and expenditure could be saved. In pre-litigation services
there will be minimum financial burden upon the state. Therefore,
priority is given to pre- litigation services in the country.

b) LEGAL AID DURING THE PROCEEDING OF LITIGATION

The basic aim of legal aid during the proceeding of litigation is to

provide free legal services to poor and socially downtrodden people
after the commencement of litigation and during proceeding. The
Supreme Court has warned on many occasions that only experienced
lawyers may be put on the panel as inexperienced lawyers may not
represent the complaints of the poor in a proper manner. Legal
community must respond in a wholehearted manner. Well
structured and effective planning for operation of the provisions of
Legal Services Authorities Act must be evolved.

JURISDICTION OF LEGAL AID

The jurisdiction of free generous legal aid is broader than the legal
assistance to poor people. Legal aid basically revolves around the
principles of Rule of Law, social and economic justice and assistance
provided by the society and Government to its financially weaker
and deprived sections to carry out the judicial process in many
aspects. For example, ensuring justice at free of cost, providing
justice at door step, providing legal education, providing social and
economic justice, protecting legal rights, protecting constitutional rights
and protection of human rights.

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IMPORTANCE OF LEGAL AID
Rule of Law, is the fundamental principle of a democracy. If the rule of
law does not prevail in a society, the order and equipoise cannot be
preserved and promoted in it. And obviously, the disorder and
disturbance in the society leads to its disintegration and destruction,
which no society desires or can even afford.

Thus, for a peaceful and prospering society, more so if it is a

democracy, it is necessary that there prevails rule of law and not
the rule of some individuals, how mighty and haughty such persons
may be. But there can be no rule of law, analyses the Gujrat Report on
legal aid, unless the common man, irrespective whether he is rich or
poor, is able to assert and vindicate the rights given to him by law.

Law it underscores, is useless, a futile exercise of legislative power,

unless actively effective and it is the machinery of justice that gives life
to the law and makes it actively effective. The machinery of justice
must, therefore, be readily accessible to all equally irrespective of their
social, economic, geographical, and biological or any other types of
differences.

Underlining the importance of legal aid, the Fourteenth Report of

Law Commission of India emphasized that without legal aid, equality
before law, an integral part of the rule of law, cannot be achieved. The
following words of the Report are self speaking:

Equality is the basis of all systems of jurisprudence and

administration of justice. In so far as a person is unable to obtain

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access to a court of law for having his wrongs redressed or for
defending himself against a criminal charge, justice becomes
unequal and laws which are meant for his protection have no meaning
and to that extent fail in their purpose. Unless some provision is made
for assisting the poor man for the payment of court fees and
lawyers‟ fees and other incidental costs of litigation, he is denied
equality in the opportunity to seek justice.

Legal aid as a part of Administration of Justice, is of much importance

for the developing and developed societies alike, however, for the
former its importance is much more because it is to act as a
catalyst for achieving the standards of social and economic
development. Nonetheless, legal aid is to remain relevant and
important for such societies in their future too. The reason for this
is obvious. Legal aid is an important provision in the judicial
administration, pulling up the weak and the meek to stand equal
before the strong and a resourceful adversary. In short, legal aid is a
platform for the unequal in a society, facing litigation, to make them
look of equal-size as that of the long-statured opposing party.

The provision of legal aid is therefore, essential for the safe walk of
democracies on the path of rule of law and the equal protection of
laws. And when the laws, in the present day world have included the
whole of life of the people and the statutes have gained higher
degrees of complexities and technicalities, the importance and
need of legal aid becomes more express. It is necessary for a society
so as to remain peaceful and prospering that „law must not only speak
justice but also behave justly to do justice and this can be done only by
filling of legal aid in arteries of legal system.

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Conclusion
Summing up the general importance of legal aid in the modern
societies, it can be safely said that the Goddess of Justice can now
dispense justice blind-folded only if the administrators, dispensers and
practitioners of justice keep their eyes wide open and the poor and
destitute in the society are being helped to stand equal to their
dominating and prosperous adversaries. And this can be ensured only
by way of effective provisions of legal aid in all societies; developed,
developing or the under developed.

References

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 https://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/
1176/Right-to-Free-Legal-Aid.html
 https://blog.ipleaders.in/legal-constitutional-
provisions-regarding-adr/#:~:text=It%20is
%20now%20known%20that,way%20to
%20address%20their%20causes.
 https://viamediationcentre.org/readnews/
MTI4/Role-of-Legal-Aid-in-Promoting-ADR-in-
India
 https://nalsa.gov.in/services/legal-aid/legal-
services
 https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/
Alternative_Dispute_Resolution_System_in/
pyFCEAAAQBAJ?
hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=alternate+dispute+resoluti
on+legal+aid&printsec=frontcover

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